


Even Were-creatures can love

by Blueyedgurl



Series: Spooky season 2020 [15]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The X-Files
Genre: Child Neglect, F/M, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Missing Persons, Monster of the Week, POV Dana Scully, Prompt Fill, Were-Creatures, Werewolf Bites
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:22:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26613658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueyedgurl/pseuds/Blueyedgurl
Summary: Mulder and Scully are on the case of Rey Niima's missing fiance after he had been bitten by a lizard in the wetlands surrounding Lake of the Ozarks.
Relationships: Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Spooky season 2020 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954030
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29
Collections: Reylo X-Files Collection, Reyloween 2020





	1. Here we go again

**Author's Note:**

> This is more an Xfiles featuring Reylo than Reylo featuring the xfiles. 
> 
> Apologies to Missouri but those town names cracked me up.  
> Written for day 12 of #reyloween

Scully walked into their basement office expecting her partner to be digging through archives or trying to get pencils to stick in the ceiling tiles. Instead he couldn’t contain his excitement as he showed her a series of photos of a strange bite mark.

“What am I looking at?” She asked him, it was a large but shallow U-shaped bite on pale skin.

“Well, after many persistent phone calls from a Miss Rey Niima, regarding her missing fiancé. She reports that a Mr. Ben Solo was bitten by what she claims to be a large humanoid lizard, while they were camping in some wetlands by the Lake of the Ozarks. She thinks that he may be turning into a lizardman himself.” Mulder was too eager, and she knew he intended to take on the case.

“A humanoid lizard.” She said skeptically. “Why does she think he turned into one?”

“Ah, I was hoping you’d ask. After the bite and some antibiotics her husband experienced nightly fevers and a strange skin condition that turned his skin to scales.”

“That sounds like eczema.” Dana said, forever the pragmatist.

“Well, that may be, but it doesn’t explain how he disappeared on a moonlit night a few weeks ago and hasn’t been seen since.”

“Are you really that bored that you’re taking this case on?” Dana asked, there were a dozen ways to explain this man’s disappearance, before coming to the conclusion that the man had turned into a lizard.

“I think it’s possible to find him. Maybe he ran because he was afraid, she would find out he was a monster?”

“I think it’s unlikely. He probably got cold feet and she’s a woman scorned. Or she’s a woman scorned, and his body is dumped in some swamp out there.” If that was the case that would be the job of local authorities.

“I doubt it. Not with how the woman explained their relationship.” Mulder said as if that explained everything.

Scully eyed him warily.

“He seems like the doting partner, changed his whole life around to be with her. That doesn’t sound like a man that would just walk away from a relationship in the middle of the night. Not without good reason.” Mulder explained, he was always a bit of a hopeless romantic.

“Where do you suggest we even begin to look for this man?” 

“Well, I was thinking we could go check the place he was bit.” Fox said with and eager smirk as she rolled her eyes. “Maybe he wants answers, maybe whatever bit him calls to him.”

“It sounds like a wild goose chase.”

“C’mon Scully where’s your sense of adventure?” Fox teased.

“I thought we were done running through the woods chasing after monsters?”

“Nonsense. I already booked our flight.”

“Mulder…” He did this every time he found a new pet project. Who knew where they’d end up or for how long. Sometimes, she just wished she had a boring desk job so she could have a dog and sleep in her own bed every night.

“We’re going to Missouri, near the Lake of the Ozarks. Miss Niima lives in a place called Climax Springs.” Fox gave an eyebrow waggle that was supposed to amuse her, but it just made her more annoyed. 

“What exactly are we looking for?” She asked him.

“Well, either a 6 ft 3in lizard or a man named Ben Solo.” Mulder shrugged stacking his files to put them in his bag.

“Is there even a missing person’s report for this man?” 

“No. The local authorities don’t think he’s in danger and his eccentric uncle is listed as his last next of kin and is less than helpful.”

“So, nobody is listening to his fiancé?”

“You know how fussy authorities are about the proper paperwork.” He said with a shrug.

The next thing she knew she was on a plane to St. Louis. 

Mulder drove them to a cheap motel that was in the middle of nowhere. However, she was pleasantly surprised that these beds still had magic fingers. It’d been years since they’d been to a hotel that had one. 

She laid on the bed, put in her quarters and let the magic fingers do their job.

The bed shuddered and shook as she laid back to enjoy the few minutes of relaxation. The feeling wasn’t as pleasant as what she remembered. The bed was so loud she didn’t hear Mulder knock and come into the room.

“Scully, let’s go we need to go see Ben Solo’s fiancé.”

She huffed and had the strange feeling of déjà vu.

“Mulder…”

“C’mon I’ll get you extra quarters on our way back.”

\--

Half an hour later they knocked on the door of a little cottage. It was small but well-kept and teaming with plant life. Whoever lived here obviously had a green thumb.

A slim brunette answered the door looking surprised to see them albeit a little suspicious.

“Can I help you?” She asked looking concerned.

“Rey Niima?” Mulder asked, showing his badge.

“Yes?”

“I’m Agent Fox Mulder and this is Agent Dana Scully, we’re from the FBI. We’re here to ask you about your fiancé, Ben Solo.”

A look of relief washed over her face and she opened the door to let them in. The house was well kept if not a bit cluttered. 

“So, why don’t you tell us what happened on your camping trip and we’ll work from there.” Scully said as they settled around Rey’s kitchen table.

“Well, we go camping about every other weekend. I enjoy the outdoors and Ben grew up with his uncle Luke who’s a prepper, so we tend to go to expand some of our skills and knowledge more so than to just get away.”

“Knowledge?” Mulder asked to try to get her to elaborate.

“I’ve been taking up foraging as a hobby.” Her mouth twitched like she was used to people having comments about that. When both of the Agents were quiet, Rey elaborated. “It’s like living off the land. You pick wild mushrooms, berries, greenery and live off those things while you’re out. It was sometimes a necessity when I was a child. When I moved here, I had a hard time adjusting to the change in climate and plant life, so I took it up as a hobby. Ben was supportive in teaching me what he could.”

“So, would you say that he could survive out in the wild with very little?” Fox asked.

Rey nodded. “He was very skilled. He could practically write his own bushman’s guide if he wanted.”

“Miss Niima.” Scully saw her wince at the name. “There was something in the report about a lizard bite?”

“Yes. We were in a relatively marshy area and something came out at us from some shrubbery. It was large, like an alligator, but not quite that shape. It stood on its hind legs like a man. There’s nothing that large that lives in these parts.”

“What did the bite look like?” Dana asked looking for confirmation.

“A bit U shaped? Like a gecko’s mouth. There were no prominent teeth marks like you would find with a poisonous snake and not quite as messy as what you would get from an alligator.”

“You seem to have put a lot of thought into this.” Scully told her seeing how the woman would respond.

“I grew up in the dessert, you get accustomed to a lot of different reptiles Agent Scully.” Rey responded rather matter of factly.

“Did he have any reactions to the bites?” Mulder asked her next.

“Yes. It swelled up, like it was infected so we stopped at urgent care for some antibiotics. It took down the swelling and redness after a few days. But then the fevers started.”

“The fevers?” Scully responded, wanting her to emphasize.

“Yes, well… they weren’t fevers per say. But he’d get the chills and his body temperature would drop. He’d be wracked with aches. I had to get him an electric blanket for the bed just so he could try to get some sleep at night.”

“What would his temperatures read?”

“During the day? He’d run a little hot maybe 99 degrees, nothing to get excited about if his body was fighting off an infection. But at night if he wasn’t under a heated blanket he could get as cool as 75 degrees.” If it was true that would be alarming

“Are you sure the reading was accurate?” Dana asked, there was always a chance that one of her devices had an error.

“At first I thought the same thing. I bought multiple thermometers to try and they all read the same.” Rey said helplessly.

“Now tell us about this uncle of his.” Mulder checked his notes. “A Luke Skywalker.”

“Yes, he’s a doomsday prepper he had guardianship of Ben from the ages of 12 to 18 until Ben went off to college.”

“What does he say about all of this?” Mulder asked her and a scowl crossed her features.

“That Ben has always been irresponsible and that he’s just running away from his problems like always.” The scowl told Dana that this was a long held and contentious disagreement.

“Would he wish to harm Ben?” Scully asked and Rey looked conflicted.

“He wouldn’t actively try to hurt Ben, but when Ben was 17, Luke left him to fend for himself in the woods for the week. Ben broke his leg on the 3rd day and was weak from the shock before Luke found him and could get him medical care.” Dana made a note of that, it wasn’t a reason for Luke to retaliate but would be a good reason for Ben to harbor some resentment.

“What makes you think he didn’t just get cold feet or leave willingly?” Dana asked. Rey looked a bit panic stricken at the question.

“Ben wouldn’t do that. He wasn’t a great communicator with words, but he would never do that to me.” When neither of the detectives spoke, she continued. “We were friends first. He pursued the relationship with flowers that meant different things and cooking me meals when we’d hang out. He changed his careers and moved us from St. Louis where we had both gone to school to out here.” She looked at her hands as if at a loss of how to explain her connection to her partner, Scully couldn’t help but empathize. “He has a hard time connecting to others, but that wasn’t the case for us. He’d never leave me, not willingly, not without an explanation.” There was a pause and Scully let her take her time to continue. “My parents abandoned me in a shopping mall when I was five. If Ben were having second thoughts, he would do anything in his power to make sure that he didn’t leave me like this.” Rey became tearful then, but she wiped them away.

“You said that the last few days he was here he was experiencing some type of eczema?” Dana asked

“Yes. It would show up at night with the strange fever. There would be some strange greenish scales and then by morning it would be cleared up, sloughed off like a snake. It’s why I think he’s been turned into whatever bit him.”

“Do you think he stayed in the area?” Mulder asked. 

“I do.” Rey confirmed.

“What makes you say that?” Scully asked, always the skeptic.

“The flowers… on the porch. Sometimes, when I wake up they’ve been rearranged. Like he’s trying to let me know that he’s still here.”

“Anything you think we should know?” Scully asked, hoping for something more concrete.

“That if he doesn’t want to be found, you won’t find him. I’ve done my best to go searching places that would be familiar to us and couldn’t.”

“Would you mind marking on the map places that might be of interest to us?” Mulder asked her. The area around the Ozarks was expansive and it would take forever without the proper information.

“I can do that.” Rey said picking up a pen and taking the map from Mulder.

When they were done with the interview, they took a further look around the property, looking for any clues that might indicate foul play.

Miss Niima handed over Mr. Solo’s the wallet, keys and phone. “I don’t know if any of these things will be of use to you.”

The phone was unlocked and there were no messages, texts, or calls that seemed suspicious or out of ordinary. They would deliver the phone to the lab to see if there was anything that could be recovered further from the memory.

\--

An hour later they were on their way back to the hotel.

“What if he said he was going to leave, and she made him disappear?” Scully asked, always playing devil’s advocate.

“I just don’t see it. She’s been the one advocating for someone to find him while even his own uncle brushes him off. She could have easily let it go and have gone free.” Mulder explained.

“So, where do you suggest we look?”

“To the wetlands of the Ozarks. The man sounds like a romantic and is probably someplace that he’d camp with Miss Niima.”

“Why would you say that?”

“It’s what I would do.” Mulder said with a smirk.


	2. Tightwad

Once back to the hotel. Dana reviewed her notes pertaining to the disappearance of Mr. Solo. There were places circled on the map that were frequented by the couple, sentimental or had good resources. Miss Niima was almost meticulous about the information she had provided them. Dana had to admit she was impressed.

As promised, Fox had gotten her more quarters and Dana spent the rest of the night using the magic fingers before she went to bed.

The next morning found Dana and her partner driving to Tightwad, Missouri that boasted a whole entire population of 69 people. Dana found herself thinking that sometimes you just couldn’t make this stuff up.

“So, his uncle lives all the way out here?” Scully marveled at the expanse of greenery and lack of population.

“I mean he’s a survivalist Scully, to him hell is other people.”

“It says in his background information that he was a Harvard graduate, some kind of wunderkind in physics.” Scully said looking through his file.

“Now it sounds like he milks goats and grows his own medicinal herbs.” Mulder said with a smirk.

When they got to the property there were indeed goats standing at the fence eating grass. The driveway was gated off and had no trespassing signs at every fence post.

“Is he even expecting us?” Scully asked as they got out of the car and approached the gate.

“How could he, he doesn’t have a phone or internet.” Mulder said looking up at the property ahead of them.

Mulder examined the gate and noticed that it was padlocked shut.

“What do you want?” They heard a voice from the bushes. 

A man approached with a scruffy beard and a mish mash of clothes, including an old wool poncho that seemed to not match the warmth of the day. Eccentric indeed.

“We’re from the FBI, Agents Mulder and Scully we’re here to ask you about the disappearance of your nephew.” Mulder took the lead of the introduction.

“Disappeared?” The man scoffed as he shook his head. “That kid’s been running his whole life, from his parents, from me, it doesn’t surprise me that he ran from her, too.”

“He had some pretty good reasons to run from here.” Scully made by way of defense. The man’s eyes widened in offense.

“He was weak when he came here, weak when he left, and now look at him.” Scully was half expecting the man to spit at the end of the sentence.

“Miss Niima seems to think that he wouldn’t just leave, that something happened to him.” Mulder said, putting his hands on his hips.

“What does she know? She fell for a pair of pretty eyes.” Luke said skeptically.

Scully thought that was an odd comment to make about one’s nephew, but she let it slide.

“So, there’s no information that you think could help us. Where he could be or why he ran?” Mulder asked, hoping to get somewhere. Scully, however, knew a lost cause when she saw one.

“No. Now unless you have a warrant, I think you should get off my property.” He said with a finality and he gestured to the sign that said _TREASPASSERS WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT_.

“He was strange.” Scully said, she fully understood why a teenage boy would want to run from that place. She had read in his file that his parents were exact opposites, his mom some social elite from Kansas City and his dad a rancher. They had gotten divorced when Ben was 10 and given temporary guardianship to Luke, who was his maternal uncle. There wasn’t much about them other than Mr. Solo hadn’t had contact with them since he was 15 and that Rey had contacted them without any luck.

“He’s probably been alone too long with his goats.” Mulder said, pulling Scully from her thoughts.

“It just doesn’t leave us with much to go on.” 

“Did you bring the map that Miss Niima marked?” Mulder said signaling to pull over onto the shoulder.

“Yes.” Scully said as she made to dig it out of her case file, she handed it to him when he put the car in park.

Mulder scoured the map, looking at various places before circling an area with his finger.

“There’s a cluster here that I think would be worth checking out, Scully.” He pointed to a place that had a lot of X’s. 

“Seems to me that there’s decent resources and it’s close to the location of where he was bitten.” Mulder gave way of explanation.

“Do we even have our hiking gear?” Scully asked, she really didn’t like the idea of going tromping through the woods in a pant suit. 

“Of course, I put them in the trunk before we left.”

“We probably won’t even make it to where they camped until evening Mulder.” She was really trying to avoid sleeping out in the woods.

“Look if he turns into a lizard at night, I think it would be a good idea to be in the woods at that time.” 

“I think your idea of a good idea is different than mine.” She said warily.

“It’ll be fun.” Mulder shrugged her off and drove in the direction of their new destination.


	3. Into the great wide open

How this man could still get her to follow breadcrumbs through a swamp she’d never know. It was getting to be dusk and she was getting eaten alive by mosquitos, the dampness of the night making her clothes stick to her.

“Mulder, what are we even looking for?” She said as she slapped a bug off her arm.

“Some sort of lizardman or evidence of one.” Like that was the answer she was really asking for.

“Be more specific.”

“Footprints, maybe that sloughed off skin Rey reported.” He said, they hiked more, and he frequently compared his GPS to the map he kept in his hand.

“I think we should camp here.” Mulder said after looking at his gps.

She looked around and nothing about it was discernible from any other spot they had stopped to rest. 

“Just wait and see Scully, have some faith.” He must have noticed her look. “It’s where he proposed Scully, surely a man who is that in love would want to feel closer to her by coming here.” She found it hard to argue with his logic.

They set up a small camp, tying up a hammock and eating their MRE’s while sitting on a downed log. 

It was a quiet night, the sound of crickets and frogs thick in the air. 

It was dark when they heard it. Some strange screeches followed by a crashing through the brush.

“What was that?” Scully asked into the darkness.

She turned but Mulder was already wandering off without her, his flashlight bobbing through the trees.

She sighed heavily and followed, searching for something that might indicate what they were looking for. 

That’s when she saw it. A flash of amber against the bark of the tree. She stilled and watched. The amber was gone, but she knew what she saw, it wasn’t a trick of the light.

“Mulder?” She called into the darkness, unwilling to keep her eyes off the spot and that’s when there was a flash of movement and she was knocked to the ground.

“Scully!?” She heard him call and she scrambled to get up off the soft dirt. She picked up her flashlight and the beam fell upon two large lizards wrestling in the brush.

Mulder came back into view. They looked at each other knowing what they had to do and separated the two creatures.

“Let go!” Bellowed the one in Mulder’s grip while the one Scully was wrestling with was trying to bite her. She fell trying to escape the creature’s jaw and a shot rang out through the night. Mulder hit the creature in the arm, and they were both able to secure it in hand cuffs. The lager of the two beasts standing guard over them.

“Which one of you is Ben Solo?” Mulder asked, panting to catch his breath.

“I am.” The standing lizard said, hands on his hips. It was admittedly a strange sight. He looked like he had gotten roped into wearing a chameleon costume to a child’s birthday party.

“Who’s this?” Mulder asked, the other lizard now passed out in the weeds.

“The one that bit me.” Ben stated.

“Why have you been hiding out here?” It was evident his mental state was not changed with his physical appearance. He was out here by choice, not by compulsion.

“Initially I came because I thought I was a danger to Rey, but I wanted answers, too. That guy, his name is Snoke and he was trying find others to bite. But he wanted to be selective. He wanted people that could survive out here, build a big enough army and following. After I told him no, that I wasn’t doing that he threated going after others on his own. I tracked him down and kept watch, intervened when I needed to.” 

Together the three of them were able to get Snoke out of the woods and to the car, Mulder was finally able to get a signal to call the local field office so they could get Snoke proper medical attention.

“Miss Niima has been looking for you.” Fox said when Snoke was driven away in the back of a black van.

A look of sorrow crossed Ben’s features that made him look more man than lizard, he had sat on the edge of the wood waiting for the excitement to die down.

“I know, but I couldn’t return to her while he was around. I needed to keep her safe. He wanted to target her, too. Her life has been hard enough she didn’t need this added.” He stated as he gestured to himself.

“We’ll make sure you make it back to her.” Mulder said reassuringly.

In the morning they drove back to Climax Springs so they could reunite the young couple. Ben wanted to talk to her about his condition before showing his bride to be, afraid it would be a shock to her to see him like that. 

So, in the morning as the orange dawn light of morning shone down on the front porch of their little cottage, the couple embraced with tearful kisses. 

Mulder and Scully didn’t wish to overstay their welcome and went to leave silently but were stopped by a fierce hug from the young woman, who gave them a tearful thank you and a wave before going back to the embrace of the man she had spent the last few weeks desperately looking for. 

\--

The strange disappearance of Mr. Solo was solved, and he was able to return to the woman he loved. It was a successful case and Dana no longer regretted the trek through Missouri wetlands.

They had discovered that his lizard skin allowed him to camouflage, which is why Rey couldn’t find him in the woods and why Scully could only see his eyes the night that they found him. They did their best to hide Mr. Solo’s condition from local authorities, they didn’t see him as a threat, but Dana kept in contact with him about his condition. It was a few weeks after his return home that he reported he didn’t change every night but only on full moons. 

Scully noted in her report that Mr. Solo had been stalked and attacked by Mr. Snoke, another doomsday survivalist with degrees in biology. Mr. Snoke would be charged with the attempted assault of a federal agent and he would be kept for observation at a facility for people with similar unexplainable conditions.

“Did you check your mail Scully?”

Mulder asked sounding a bit excited when Scully walked into their office on Monday morning.

“I got it but didn’t look through it.” She said, setting her things on her desk. 

“We have been cordially invited to a wedding.” He said as he held up a thick envelop of seed paper.

“Who’s?” Scully couldn’t think of anyone they worked with that would be getting married soon.

“Have a look.” 

Scully sorted through her various pieces of mail and came across a similar envelope. She opened it gingerly, not wanting to mar the nice paper and beautiful script.

_You are invited to attend the wedding of Mr. Benjamin Chewbacca Organa-Solo and Miss Rey Niima on the 31 st of October at their home in Climax Springs, Missouri._

“That’s sweet.” Scully said with a smile. “Are you going to go?”

“That couple? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”


End file.
